The Egyptian temple of Dendera contains some artifacts revealing an amazing knowledge.They have been engraved on the walls in subterranean chambers, for millennia.

This reconstitution of relief sculptures in Dendera showsthe amazing structure of these artefacts resembling a strange lighting system.
What was the real function of this enigmatic electrical installation in antique Egypt ?

The lamps of Dendera

According to the tradition, the Egyptian temple of Dendera was built about 5000 years ago, or may be more. However, compared with the other monuments along the Nile, it does not seem so antique. In fact it was never completed, but Greeks and Romans deeply modified its structure in 54 BCE. In the temple of Dendera, the ancient Egyptians celebrated the cult of goddess Hathor whose name means « residence of the Sun ». The metaphor is obvious. Hathor symbolised sunlight and cosmic energies. The goddess Hathor was considered as the mother of all life on Earth.

The Egyptian temple of Dendera was built about 5000 years ago, or may be more.
In fact it was never completed, but Greeks and Romans deeply modified its structure in 54 BCE.
One worshipped the goddess Hathor whose allegorical name means « residence of the Sun ».

These artifacts, carved in the stones of the subterranean chambers, show objects quite unusual in Egyptian temple. They strangely look like some large electric light-bulbs and suggest that antique Egypt may already have known of electric lighting.

The origin of these relief sculptures is unclear. These engravings seem much older than the temple which dates to the Ptolemaic period, about 100 BCE. Is it a representation of a secret knowledge of the ancient priests of Heliopolis? These strange relief sculptures in the temple of Hathor, showing inexplicable artifacts, are like the Bagdad battery, another artifact over 4500 years old. These « unusual objects » are similar to the others found in Egypt, in Mesopotamia, and everywhere in the world, which progressively modify our traditional conceptions of the evolution of civilizations.

Can we conclude that the priests and the initiated persons (Pharaohs, Kings, dignitaries,...) of antique civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia had an electrical technology that was part of their secret knowledge?

Electricity, a secret knowledge in antique Egypt

It is now well known that antique civilizations knew of electricity. Thus, amber was known of the Greeks and allowed them to discover electrostatic effects (the Greek word for amber Ílektron gave its name to electricity and electronics).

However, the ancient Greeks did not go beyond these electrostatic effects, while antique Egypt seems to have had some hidden knowledge in this field, especially if we consider the inexplicable artifacts of Dendera, and also the statements of Solon and Plato on the First Time of Egypt or « Zep Tepi ».

A part of the knowledge of the ancient Greeks seems to have its origin in antique Egypt. In fact, it seems that this secret knowledge was kept by the elite of the priests in Heliopolis. The texts found in the temples and pyramids present this knowledge in the form of metaphors and allegories.

The esoteric messages of Dendera artifacts

In the underground chambers of temple in Dendera, several relief sculptures depict mysterious devices. How can we explain the presence of these amazing sculptures engraved in the stone of these crypts ?

What esoteric message do the initiated of antique Egypt intend to deliver through these amazing Dendera reliefs ? What do we exactly see when we look at them with the eyes of an Engineer ?

Below is one of the amazing relief sculptures of Dendera. Let us see how some researchers analyze this artifact and interpret the electric lighting thesis:

Omnipresent Anubis (1), the jackal-headed god (god of the passage to afterlife world) seems to preside over the scene. The operation is monitored by the god, or a priest wearing the mask of Anubis. You can see what looks like a huge lamp (6). The size of the lamp can be evaluated in comparison with the size of the Egyptian server (4) about 160 cm high (according to the average size of Mummies and sarcophagi). The « lamp » is about 230-250 cm long and 50 to 70 cm wide in its largest diameter. An « electric wire » (8) goes from the « cathode » of the lamp to some kind of « power supply box » (10) on which Amun-Ra, god of hidden light (2), is sitting.

Amun-Ra holds the lamp with the help of Neheb-Ka, the goddess of magic (3). Between them stands a Djed pillar, an amazing artifact that looks like a high voltage isolator (about 100 cm high). On the top of this big HV isolator is a « high voltage anode ». None of the gods seem affected by the magic of electricity. The « snake whose fire bite is lethal » (7) is safely sealed in this big lamp (6), under human control (4).

How are these sculptures usually described ?

These relief sculptures puzzle Egyptologists. For them they represent the « cult of the Snake ». All of these images are only religious symbols and nothing more. Of course, thanks to this interpretation, the esoteric knowledge of the ancient Egyptian priests is well protected. The understanding of some reliefs and ancient texts, considered as unclear by Egyptologists, is perhaps only a problem of technical culture.

Two different visions of the same « artifact »

TECHNICALEngineer's vision of the Dendera artifact

TRADITIONALEgyptologist's vision of the Dendera artifact

The Engineer of the 21st century will give a description of what he sees: « it is a strange electric lamp. Compared with the Egyptian server (size between 1.50 and 1.60 metres) its dimensions are about 2-2.5 metres long and 50 to 70 cm in the greatest diameter. This looks like a huge unknown lighting system. »

These two lightbulbs of our time,
incandescent on the leftand halogen on the right,
look strangely likethe « lightbulb of Dendera ».

The traditional Egyptologist will say that « this Dendera lamp is nothing more than a snake hanging horizontally within a lotus flower ». He will still explain that « the god snake is in the morning sky and its tail comes out from this space to enter the altar on which Amun-Ra is sitting ».

For the Egyptologist, it is « the Cult of the Snake ».
This relief sculpture is only symbolic.

The Engineer of the 21st century will see « an electric cable connected from the lotus-shaped end of the Dendera lamp to a kind of an electrical power supply box »

For the Engineer, it is a lampconnected by an electric cableto an electrical « power supply ».

The traditional Egyptologist will say that « this Dendera lamp is nothing more than a snake hanging horizontally within a lotus flower ». He will still explain that « the god snake is in the morning sky and its tail comes out from this space to enter the altar on which Amun-Ra is sitting ».

For the Egyptologist, it is « a snake's tail
connected to the altar of Amun-Ra ».

The Engineer of the 21st century will add that « between the god Amun-Ra on the right, and the goddess Neheb-Ka on the left, there is a strange device resembling very much a high voltage isolator of our 21st century ».

These 3 high voltage isolators
are comparable to the « Djed » pillar (see on the right).

The traditional Egyptologist will still claim that « this artifact is of a religious and mythological nature. The Djed pillar, outside the lamp, is the symbol of the spine of Osiris, seat of vital fluid. This pillar would be a tree with cut branches playing a role in fertility rites ».

The metaphor of Djed, the tree-pillar with cut branchesmay conceal a technical knowledge dating back to a very ancient time.

The Engineer of the 21st century will probably summarize his description as follows: « We see a kind of huge electric lamp with, on the left side, a cathode connected to a supply cable, and on the right side, an anode formed by two arms mounted on a High Voltage isolator.

The size (about 1 meter high) of this High Voltage isolator and the number (4) of its insulation rings, theoretically allows to estimate the voltage between 12 to 48 kV (3 to 12 kV per ring), maybe even more. The snake, which appears between the cathode and the anode, corresponds to the electric discharge caused by high voltage applied between the two electrodes. »

The traditional Egyptologist will probably summarize his description as follows: « This relief sculpture is symbolic. It represents, in allegorical form, the Cult of the Snake in antique Egypt. The Snake is the symbol of the rising sun, of the cosmic fire, and mainly it is the symbol of the authority of the Pharaoh. It is a deity of the First Time of Egypt.

The Snake represents the god of the morning sun, Harsomtus. His fire bite is deadly. The tail of the Snake leaves the morning sky to join the altar of Amun-Ra where the Djed pillar is attached. The 4 horizontal bars of the Djed pillar symbolize the cervical vertebras of Osiris, the god of fertility, resurrection and stability ».

Possible limits of available deciphering tools

Should we interpret the messages (hieroglyphs, inscriptions, relief sculptures, monuments) of antique Egypt only with the eyes of a traditional Egyptologist? Is the vocabulary of deciphering well adapted?

The only tools available to decode and understand the messages of ancient Egypt are on the one hand the Rosetta Stone (but this Stone does not allow to correctly translate all texts, including several inscriptions of Abydos, Edfu and Dendera that remain unclear), and on the other hand a number of buildings, objects, models, and artifacts on wall, stele, sarcophagus and papyrus that allow to make assumptions and suggest explanations.

Can we say that these assumptions and explanations are valid in all cases? We should not forget that traditional Egyptology is a relatively recent discipline which dates back to the end of the 18th century (the Foundation of the Institute of Egypt by Bonaparte in 1798), and which was, in the 19th and 20th centuries, the very closed field of specialists.

As seen in the above comparison table, the understanding of metaphors and allegories of the inscriptions of First Time of Egypt is perhaps mainly a problem of technical culture. The evolution of science and technology of the 21st century allows us to have a new look at these messages.

The traditional Egyptologist admires and studies these messages in the same way as you look at and appreciate a painting. The Egyptologist in-situ discovers them in a very physical way by making the excavations with shovel, trowel and brush in hands. Can we imagine that their assumptions and their explanations are valid in all cases?

Can we imagine the strange « machines » of Dendera are antique lighting systems? Can we imagine ancient Egypt lit up the inside of its temples and its pyramids? Alternatively, because of the presence of Anubis and the Djed pillar, can we say that it is an ancient « system of resurrection »?

An antique electric lighting in the Ancient Egypt ?

In everyday life, we know that the ancient Egyptians used oil lamps or torches, which normally have left traces of soot and other fatty residues of combustion on the walls and ceilings.

However, in several underground chambers or tombs of antique Egypt, such as for example the tomb of Seti II in the mountain of the Valley of the Kings, we find no trace of soot on walls or ceilings that are all painted and engraved in the rock. It is the same thing in the tombs of renowned artists and Government officials who were buried near the Kings.

So how did they do? It is possible to reduce soot due to oil lamps by adding salt in the oil. If olive-oil is used, there is very little smoke, but the oil lamps and wicks will smoke! Painting such accurate and colorful frescoes as, for example, those found in the tomb of Sennedjem in the only light of oil lamps should not be easy!

In Thebes, inside the tomb of Sennedjem, « guardian of the Place of Truth »,the walls and the ceiling are without traces of sootor other fatty residues of combustion,and the frescoes are amazingly bright and colorful.

Did they really know the principle of electric lighting? Were they able to carry out an electrical installation in the pyramids, tombs, or other workplaces for producing light? Was it reserved for priests and initiated persons who have jealously concealed this knowledge? Had they discovered this technical knowledge by themselves or was it the ancient knowledge of an older civilization?

Some researchers have hypothesized that they simply used a series of mirrors to reflect the sunlight inside the deep corridors and underground rooms. The quality of the copper plates used as mirrors was not good enough for that. Egyptian silver mirrors reflected at best 40% to 50% of the sunlight so that, after successive reflections on some mirrors, darkness would be once again total in the galleries of the pyramids and tombs, some of which are over 100 meters long.

Visiting the inside of a pyramid or an underground tomb, one may wonder how the workers were able to work in the darkness of the corridors and rooms, without normal light and without ventilation. The Egyptologists state that torches and oil lamps were the only means of lighting available at that time.

The researchers found traces of soot and other oily residue of combustion on the walls of certain monuments, as is in Dendera for example. A trace of soot and other fatty residues is therefore not proof in itself. In fact, many monuments of antique Egypt have been visited, occupied, looted, degraded and ransacked for millennia, by robbers or other people using torches and oil lamps.

What about the technology ?

Can we therefore reasonably assume that there was some sort of electric lighting in antique Egypt? Can we assume that the Egyptians of the First Time of Egypt had the technology needed to achieve the electric lighting? If so, how could they produce these large bulbs and make the vacuum ?

In the pyramid of Dahshur, built by Snefru (2613 to 2589 BC), a big slab of artificially manufactured glass weighing at least 35 tons would have been found at the level of the foundations. Slabs in quartz weighing 45 tons and over 100 tons were also found in the pyramid of Hawara. All of these slabs could prove that ancient Egyptians knew how to work with large masses of glass and quartz.

It would seem that Egypt of the First Time knew the blown glass industry. This ancient industry would have been very successful at the time of the Pharaohs, in the secret city of Tantah (located between Cairo and Alexandria).

The invention of the glass itself is attributed, either to the Phoenicians, or to the Egyptians (the Phoenicians would have been, in the latter case, only simple propagators). According to some recent theories, ancient glass industry originated in Mesopotamia. From Mesopotamia it would have passed in Egypt to return again to Mesopotamia, following the developments of these countries.

The construction of the Dendera light-bulbs was therefore theoretically possible in antique Egypt.

The question is therefore whether these strange « Dendera lamps » were achievable and could operate with Egyptian means of the First Times ? Different researchers have studied these relief sculptures and showed they could function as lamps.

Two researchers, W. Garn and Erich Von Dšniken, even reconstructed a model of these lamps in the laboratory. This model works as can be seen in the photograph below.

A « Dendera lamp » was built in the laboratory,proving that such a lamp could work.Unfortunately the light thus obtained is really poorand the electrical power necessary to make it effective would be important.

This reconstituted lamp remains, however, a model. Of course it resembles the Dendera reliefs, but it is much smaller and it is what has allowed its realization. As seen above, the size of Dendera lamps (calculated in comparison with the size of the Egyptian server represented on the relief sculpture) must be about 2 to 2.5 metres long and 50 to 70 cm wide. The model is about 60 cm long and 20 cm wide.

This model is similar to a fluorescent lamp filled with gas under low pressure. The purple light is produced by the electric discharge in the gas. It is a well-known experiment: in bulb-shaped gas- or vacuum-tubes containing two electrodes, an electron beam will be emitted under the action of high voltage applied between the electrodes.

On the relief sculpture of Dendera, as on the model, one of the electrodes is located in the bottom cap (in the form of a lotus flower), and the other consists of two arms of the pillar insulator emerging in the bulb. However, the beam of light that appears between the electrodes of the model does not really look like the filamentous snake of the relief sculpture. In addition, the light produced is insufficient to provide a valid lighting system in a dark room. This experiment, although very interesting, does not demonstrate that it could be an effective system of lighting of antique Egypt.

Experiments for resurrection ?

What's the conclusion? Maybe these artefacts do not represent light-bulbs, or the problem is badly posed. On the walls of Dendera they are also different sorts of bulbs. Some have both small arms of the isolator pillar emerging in the bulb, others are « connected » in the middle of the pillar, others still have these two small arms (representing the essential anode) out of the bulb. It seems that the sculptor, who designed these relief sculptures, did not really understand what the initiated person asked him to represent.

In the underground chambers of Dendera, the sculptors have surely worked under the direction of initiated priests. These priests were the custodians of secrets from the dawn of civilization, when the « gods and demigods » reigned on Earth. The different sorts of bulbs are probably due to the fact that the sculptors who engraved the artifacts did not really understand the descriptions given by these initiated custodians of an antique science.

The secret science of antique EgyptCan we assume that Dendera machine was used in an attempt to resurrection ?

The temple of Dendera is located on the western bank of the Nile. In this temple, the ancient Egyptians celebrated the cult of goddess Hathor. Being away from the main tourist routes, it is very little visited. According to ancient sources describing the foundation of the temple in Dendera, its plan would correspond to very old documents dating back to mythical times of « Servants of Horus », kinds of demigods that preceded the human Pharaohs about 5200 BCE. Most visitors do not know that this temple contains in subterranean chambers, some artifacts revealing an amazing knowledge. They have been engraved on the walls for millennia.

In this digital book, the author describes the various research and assumptions made on this mystery of Dendera.

An historical-religious mysteryTraces of a fantastic resurrection printed on linen of a strange relic ?

This mystery appeared during the reign of the King of France Philippe the Beautiful. It concerns the image of Edessa, as known as the representation of Mandylion in the shape of an icon, and well known today as the Turin Shroud.
While this Shroud disappeared between 1206 and 1350, a knight-templar cult of a « magic head or Baphomet » appeared towards 1265. This worship was declared « idolatrous » in 1307, at the time of the arrest of Templars by the King of France Philippe the Beautiful. This was used as indictment basis by the inquisitors of the Holy Office during the Trial of the Templars until 1314.

This historical-religious mystery still remains unsolved to date. It is the secret story of the Shroud of Turin showing the tridimensional image of a tortured man. This strange relic might be « the trace of a fantastic resurrection ».